July Reading List

1. Best Instagram hashtags to use.

2. The perfect words to describe things.

3. How to build a classic wardrobe.
4. Solutions to decorate if you're renting.
5. Five things to do.
6. DIY essential oil diffuser.
7. A fresh take on swimwear.
8. Instagrammers you should follow.
9. A wonderful interview with Rihanna.
10. Books you should read this summer.
11. More books to read this summer.

(#10 via Cupcakes & Cashmere)

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TSU Book Club | June Discussion

Ruby by Cynthia Bond was our June TSU Book Club pick. This book follows the mysterious life of Ruby in her small town and Ephram who has loved her since childhood. This book is very dark and hard to read, yet beautifully written. If you haven't read it yet, please do not continue reading as there are many spoilers ahead.

1. Celia and her dad are very similar, yet innately different. What she sees as a child is highly misinformed, yet her actions echo some of the attitudes her father and those around her in the town had. Is she an innocent or just as guilty?

- I think as a child, Celia was very much a victim of a social mindset. Like many children, she idolizes her father and looks down upon her mother, based on what others have said. She represents the collective memory in this book. However, an older Celia definitely should take responsibility for her actions and act in a different manner, which she did not.

2. I would say this book is classified as magical realism. The setting really was a character that acted on, through, and alongside the rest of the cast. Would you agree with this?

3. How did you feel about Ephram? At the beginning I thought he was very shy and almost without a backbone. I am happy that in the end he came onto himself and got more courage to fight for himself and Ruby against Celia and the town.

4. This book is an example of 'history repeats itself.' How do you think this is true (or not)?

- In a way, Reverend Jennings is kept alive through his daughter. Similarly, Ruby's aunt is alive in her. It seems like the end scene might have been a cleanse or a break from that for some characters.

5. How do you feel about the Dybou? How did these feelings evolve?

- At the beginning, I was confused as to this 'character.' I wasn't sure what it was, what its intentions were, and what role did it play. I'm still unsure about it, but I feel the Dybou is a symbol of the past merging with the present and having an acting role in the present characters' life.

I'm leaving it to 5 questions so that we can further interact and discuss in the comments down below. Feel free to bring up any points or questions you did not understand. Thank you so much for reading along!

XO, Patricia

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The Fundamentals of Caring

If you haven't watched The Fundamentals of Caring, what are you waiting for? This past weekend I watched the talked-about film starring Selena Gomez, Paul Rudd, and Craig Roberts. The plotline was simple, yet beautiful, and the acting was superb (I'm so impressed by Selena!). You'll really enjoy the film.

Want to watch something else?

This past Saturday, June 25th, Bill Cunningham, legendary fashion photographer (he invented street style photography, basically) passed at 87. If you haven't watched the documentary Bill Cunningham New York on Netflix about his career, you're really missing out on what an amazing artist this man was. 

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Summer Watch List

Like probably many of you, I live most of my time on Netflix. During the summer, especially, I have more time to find new movies and shows that might be underrated. I love watching international films, particularly Spanish films. Netflix has a wonderful selection and they're all subtitled. Here's a list of some of the things on my Netflix Watch List.

1. Palm Trees in the Snow: Killian's family had been colonialists in the island of Fernando Poó, where they raised cocoa. In 2003, Clarence discovers a letter that reveals a clue about her family's past. She sets out to the former Spanish Guinea to uncover it.

2. Frida: Starring Salma Hayek as Frida, this is a biopic of the famous surrealist painter, Frida Kahlo.

3. Ché: Puertorrican actor, Benicio del Toro, stars as Ché Guevarra in this biopic about the revolutionary leader.

4. The Central Park Five: This is a documentary film about the case of Trisha Meili, a jogger who was assaulted in 1989 in Central Park.

5. Roman Holiday: Everyone knows this classic with Audrey Hepburn but I've never watched it.

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TSU Book Club | July

For July's The Sunday Usual Book Club pick, we are reading The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig.

Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and imagination.

As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief who could come to mean much more to Nix.

But the end to it all looms closer every day.

Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very existence.

For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.

She could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability, her own epic love.

Or she could disappear.  (GoodReads)

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Book Review | Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

In the familiar setting of Holt, Colorado, home to all of Kent Haruf’s fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis’s wife. His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with. (GoodReads)

Our Souls at Night follows to people in their elder years, both alone, as they re-discover love and friendship. 

I've never read a Kent Haruf book but the reviews of this particular one (his last) makes me want to read others, as well. This is a short novel and although I liked it, I suspect it's not his best work.

This novel was endearing and at times sad. I didn't really understand why the relationship between Addie and Louis was seen as so scandalous. I liked both characters, although they were a bit one-dimensional. I expected most from them. In addition, the secondary characters were a bit flat, as well. I didn't understand their motivations and their actions didn't make sense to me.

Overall, a nice, short read. 

Have you read any other Haruf books?

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June Reading List

This June is all about getting back in touch with myself. After four hard years of studying and working, I'm going to be spending this summer with my family in PR. I might get a part-time job at a store to save some cash. However, I want to get back in touch with my passions: writing, reading, as well as discovering new passions. Here's a list of links and articles to keep you entertained this month.

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TSU Book Club | June Pick

Hi all! By now, you probably know that I love books (you can read some reviews here) so it seemed appropriate that I would start my own virtual book club! I love reading and writing reviews for you guys but I think this could be a better, more interactive way to engage with you and the books that I'm reading.

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Book Review | Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie's intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can't imagine - a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.

Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her "How did you get to be the woman you are today?" She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor. (GoodReads)

The Boston Girl is about a Jewish girl coming of age. Addie retells her life story to her 22 year-old grand daughter. The novel is a collection of vignettes of different stages of her life.

The Boston Girl is beautifully and simply written. Addie's story could truly be any girl's story. My only problem with the story is that I did not feel deeply connected to any of the characters. I enjoyed them, but they might have been too simple. Addie herself did not move me completely and although I felt and related to her struggles, I often felt that she was keeping many things to herself. Maybe this was intentional, as the narration is being told to her granddaughter, but I did not particularly care for this and found it unnecessary.

Overall, The Boston Girl is a simple, yet beautiful read. I enjoyed the writing and I think this would make a perfect beach read.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

XO,
Patricia

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Affordable Art

As a new renter (we just signed our lease!), I'm looking forward to decorating on a budget (broke future law school student). I want my new space to feel more like a grown up apartment than a college dorm. Although the process is going to be gradual, I definitely want to make it happen. In order to do that, I want to add some sort of art to our walls. Here are some affordable (under $50) options!

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Book Review | The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another. Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences. (GoodReads)

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Books I can Re-Read Over and Over

Do you have any books that you keep going back to? Perhaps a childhood favorite? Mine is the Harry Potter series. Whenever I'm at a loss for what to read, I re-read one of the Harry Potter books and it automatically puts me in a great mood. In addition, I'm always discovering new clues about what happens in future books--it's almost like a puzzle! As I grow older, I can also appreciate JK Rowling's subtle humor and nuances. Currently, I'm re-reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, arguably my favorite one, but it's hard to rank them in order.

What are your favorite books that you can re-read and never get bored?

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Book Review | A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever. (GoodReads)

This book is really about Jude. Even after 800 pages, even after making everything revolve around Jude, I still don't know Jude.

A Little Life reminded me of a more harrowing version of The Interesting by Meg Wolitzer. Basically, this very character-driven book centers around a group of friends who are trying to make it through life. Yanagihara puts together the four most different, yet complimentary characters to Jude and it's obvious that each brings to Jude something with which he can hold on to. None of his relationships, however, compare to his relationship with Willem. 

This book was at times very hard to read. It is the sort of book that contains very explicit descriptions of very traumatizing and tragic events. The book provides no dates and the locations are at most vague. Although I've seen that this bothers many, I believe that it is a way for the author to convey with the setting what is the theme of the book: instability, hollowness, insufficiency. Even after I finished this book three weeks ago, it is very hard to talk about and describe. There are very little happy moments and after 800 pages I am still unsatisfied, not in a bad way, but rather in that I don't know what's going on with this book.

I gave this book five stars because the writing is beautiful, because the characters are so humanly raw, because I was so moved, and because my life changed a little because of this. However, I don't want to recommend this book to you because it's very hard to read and it has a sadness that I don't recommend to anyone. 

xo, Patricia

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Book Review | Ready Player One

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the  OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. (GoodReads)

I was really skeptical about this book at first. First, it is geared towards YA crowds, which I abandoned about three or four years ago. Second, it was very...geeky sounding. I'm not interested in video games or anything like that so I didn't find the appeal of it. However, more and more people that I knew read it and loved it so I had to give it a shot.

Just like many other people during this era, Wade was completely immersed in this virtual reality. It was not just a game, but it housed his friends, school, and everything else you can imagine. When the creator dies, he decides to make a quest. The winner of such quest would then be heir to his fantastic fortune. Since then, Wade and millions of others have been in search for this hidden key that opened the ultimate prize. 

I listened to this as an audiobook, which I definitely recommend because the narrator is even referenced in the book! The game and the book itself is riddled in countless of 80s references, some of which I recognized but I'm sure I missed plenty. It was interesting to see that the author chose to reflect back on this era rather than the current (2000s), given that it's a book geared towards a younger generation.

At first, I wasn't really into the book. it took me about halfway through to be completely immersed but then I found myself laughing and gasping during plot twists. It's not completely surprising but it also isn't too predictable. The characters were a bit flat, in my opinion but I really enjoyed the world-building. At times, however, I felt like I was getting a bunch of information that might have been explained in a more subtle way.

The race towards the end of the book (and finding the key) was so exciting I found myself listening to the book while just sitting in a chair because I wanted to see how the chapter ended. I think that overall this is a very easy book to read and like. I don't think it's a favorite but I would recommend it as a light, fun park or beach read for the upcoming season!

Have you read this book? What do you think?

Xo,
Patricia

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New Podcast

I recently discovered this podcast called The Lit Up Show thanks to an awesome Instagram I follow. I'm a book nerd and when I was 12 I discovered that books were actually written and they just didn't suddenly appear. Since them I've always wanted to be a writer. This podcast inspires me so much! Check it out!

P.S. When I was in high school my best friend and I had a podcast about books called Turning Pages. I was into podcasts before they were cool.

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YouTuber Recommendations

Hi everyone! I love this day and age we live in where you don't even need cable TV to keep yourself entertained. Three of my favorite things to do are obviously reading, watching YouTube, and listening to podcasts. Today, I want to bring you five new YouTube channels I've loved recently.

01. DressYourSelfHappy by Serein Wu

Serein is amazing with beauty reviews. Although our features and textures are different, I definitely look for her reviews before making purchases. She has a relatable, bubbly personality and her video quality is great! 02. AllanaRamaaa by Allana Davison
Another beauty YouTube channel, Allana has the best personality. She's become one of my favorites ever and I love her whole style. 03. BooksandQuills by Sanne
I am a book lover and that includes watching videos about books. Sanne has a great range of taste and I totally trust her opinion when it comes to books. She also works in the publishing industry and talks about that often, which I find fascinating.
04. Frannerd by Fran
Frannerd just satisfies the extra obsessive nerd in me. She has lifestyle videos about organization as well as Draw With Me videos. She's an extremely talented illustrator and I just love the aesthetics of her vidos. 05. Ariel Bissett

Ariel is another book YouTuber that I absolutely love. She's funny and insightful and I love her taste in literature. 
What are some of your favorite YouTubers to watch? I have some here, too.
XO Patricia

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Currently Reading

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01. A Little Life by Hanya Yanaiahara: When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever. 

02. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah: In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another. 

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences.

03. What Philosophy Can Do by Gary Gutting: How can we have meaningful debates with political opponents? How can we distinguish reliable science from over-hyped media reports? How can we talk sensibly about God? In What Philosophy Can Do, Gary Gutting takes a philosopher’s scalpel to modern life’s biggest questions and the most powerful forces in our society—politics, science, religion, education, and capitalism—to show how we can improve our discussions of contentious  contemporary issues.

04. Yes Please by Amy Poehler: In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book,Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book full of words to live by.

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New Favorite Show

I've never watched an Amazon show before but one day my mom and I decided to watch this one and we were hooked immediately. I love that they cast a Latino (Gael García Bernal) as the lead and it's a great mix of edgy, quirky, and comical. I've literally laughed out loud many times. Plus, I have a crush on Rodrigo, which is so weird because not my type at all. That's what TV does best, though, huh? Also, they just won two Golden Globes! 

Have you watched it?

XO

Patricia

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